David H. Koch Biography

David Koch was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the co-owner of Koch Industries. Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about him.

David Hamilton Koch was an American businessman who was a co-owner of Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the United States. He also served as the company’s executive vice president. An alumnus of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he was a professionally qualified chemical engineer. Following the completion of his education he worked for several engineering consulting firms including the Amicon Corporation, Halco International, and the Scientific Design Company. Eventually he joined the family business Koch Industries that had been founded by his father, Fred Koch, in 1940. At the time of his joining his elder brother Charles was heading the company and young David worked as a technical-services manager under him. Eventually David went on to found his company’s New York office and became the president of his own division, Koch Engineering, renamed Chemical Technology Group. The Koch family is counted amongst the wealthiest ones in the United States, and David himself was named the ninth wealthiest person in the world in 2014. He was also a very generous philanthropist and as a cancer survivor, had donated millions to medical research causes and institutions including $100 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the construction of a new research and technology facility.

David Koch was born on May 3, 1940 to Mary and Fred Chase Koch. His father was a chemical engineer cum businessman who founded the Koch Industries the same year David was born. He has three brothers: Frederick, Charles, and William.

David attended the Deerfield Academy prep school in Massachusetts, graduating in 1959. Then he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1962. He completed his Master’s degree a year later. As a college student he was also an active sportsman, a skilled player of basketball.

After completing his education, he embarked on an engineering career and worked as a research and process design engineer at several consulting firms over the next few years. Arthur D. Little, the Amicon Corporation, Halco International, and the Scientific Design Company are some of the companies he worked for in the 1960s.

David Koch joined the family business, Koch Industries, in 1970. It was founded by his father years ago and at that time it was headed by his elder brother Charles Koch. One of his initial positions at the company was that of a technical-services manager.

Eventually David went on to found the company’s New York office and by 1979 had become the president of his own division, Koch Engineering which was later renamed Chemical Technology Group.

He developed an interest in politics and became the Libertarian Vice-Presidential candidate in the U.S. presidential election in 1980, sharing the party ticket with presidential candidate Ed Clark.

The duo promised to abolish Social Security, the Federal Reserve Board, welfare, minimum-wage laws, corporate taxes, all price supports and subsidies for agriculture and business, and received just under a million popular votes in what was the most successful Libertarian U.S. presidential campaign until that date.

Once a staunch believer in the Libertarian ideals, he broke with the Libertarian Party in 1984 when it supported eliminating all taxes. Since then he has been a Republican.

In 1984, David Koch along with his brother Charles, established Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), a conservative political group operating in the United States. The group was dedicated to free markets and called for the highest level of personal involvement in public policy activism.

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David Koch was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1992 and underwent surgery, radiation and hormone therapy. Yet the cancer recurred numerous times. His personal experiences as a cancer patient motivated him to fund medical research.

Listed as one of the world's top 50 philanthropists by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, David Koch served on the boards of more than 20 non-profit corporations including the National Cancer Advisory Board of the National Cancer Institute, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, Rockefeller University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Aspen Institute, among others.

As David Koch was a cancer survivor, he donated generously to fund medical research regarding cancer. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

He established the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation which funded cancer research and a number of arts and science organizations, including the American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Natural History.

In 2007, he made a donation of $100 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the construction of a new research and technology facility to serve as the home of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

The Koch brothers, David and Charles, provided the initial funding to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and to a related advocacy organization, Americans for Prosperity which is one of the most influential American conservative political advocacy organizations.